Dangerous Ground
by Special Agent C Starling
Summary: Lecter sees a familiar face in Florence...or does he?
1. Chapter One: Florence

He had been watching her for at least two hours now. She had a striking resemblance to his Clarice, but he knew it was not her. Still, he watched, enamored by how similar this girl was to her.  
  
Her. He'd been away from her for a year now. When he last left her, she was still imprisoned by her ponytail in the refrigerator, crying out for him to stop before the blade came down across a wrist.whether it would be hers or his own, he knew not. She gave him the key, which had been hidden in her mouth. Her mouth. He longed for that mouth. The kiss he had stolen from her that night was only slightly romantic. He wanted to give back a passionate kiss in return for the other. He was certain she felt the same way.  
  
Something turned him away from his recollection. The girl was walking toward the student union center. He was seated at a table in this very building, watching her out of a large window. She seemed preoccupied with something. As she walked into the center and past him, he caught her smell. She was wearing Ralph Lauren Romance, mixed with.something else. L'Air du Temps? Yes. A hint of it. But what else was blended with it? He wasn't quite sure, but he knew it was not a woman's scent. Rather it belonged to that of a young man. He'd find out later, right now he was intent on watching her rather than thinking of how she smelt. His eyes followed her a few paces until she met with a young man. She had a fire in her eyes, an anger. She seemed to be fuming over something. He heard a *smack* from the couple's direction and saw the red handprint of the young girl on the young man's cheek. Yes, she was obviously pissed off about something.  
  
"Bastardo voi! Come potreste fare questo a me? Baciando il mio amico migliore, che cosa era uno. Ma avendo sesso con il cane femminile?!" the young girl shouted.  
  
The young man just stood there, dumbfounded, then started to speak. She must not have wanted to hear his excuse much, for she hit him again, this time with a quick punch in the chest, turned and walked away, and left him to catch his breath and think.  
  
Hannibal Lecter was amazed. Amazed that this girl so much resembled his Clarice, amazed that she hit someone that hard (in public even), and even more so amazed that when she spoke her perfect Italian she had a "backwoods West Virginia" accent. He loved it. 


	2. Chapter Two: Arlington

Special Agent Clarice Starling walked into her side of the duplex and slammed the door. 'Damn Crawford' she thought. Several members of the Bureau had wanted her fired, and now Jack Crawford was giving her an ultimatum: quit or be fired. Since the ordeal at the Chesapeake, no one had wanted much to do with her besides Ardelia and Jeffrey. She was thankful that she still had two friends at work.  
  
Starling wanted to quit, but in a way didn't want to. She didn't want her name in the paper again. Or did she? She knew that the last time her name was in headlines, Lecter came to her. Maybe he would come to her this time. Maybe he wouldn't leave so suddenly. She thought of the last time she heard from him. He had called her from a payphone in Tokyo, Japan, telling her he was alright, but she wouldn't be hearing from him for a long time. Was it really a year ago? Where was he now? She wanted so desperately to find out.  
  
Starling looked at the pile of mail on her coffee table, and filed through it. "Bill, bill, bill.what the fuck is this?" She pulled out a small airmail envelope from Florence. Her heart skipped a beat. 'Florence' she thought. 'Maybe he's in Florence, and this is from him.' Clarice quickly tore open the letter and started reading:  
  
Dear Clarice,  
  
Hi.remember me? I'm sure you do. I figured it's about time I see you. How long has it been? Ages it seems to me. I was planning on flying over to Washington next week, and I'm hoping you will be at the airport to meet me. Please. I miss you.and ever since Mama got sick, I really haven't had anyone to talk to. Sorry if this comes as a bit of a shock to you.we haven't talked in forever and now you get a letter from me. Please call me sometime, or just meet me at the airport. Flight 172, Florence to Washington, 9:32 PM.  
  
Love, Cara A. Starling  
  
PS: Here's my number: 39-055-347-9112  
  
Clarice stared at the letter, not knowing what to think. Cara was her niece, who she hadn't seen since Clarice's brother died. 'God, how long ago was that?' she thought. 'Ten years? More?' "It shouldn't be too late over there," she said to herself, and picked up the phone. 


	3. Chapter Three: Florence

Lecter sat at the small table in the union center, still overtly amused by the previous occurrences. Just as the young girl walked past his table, her cell phone rang. She stopped to answer it.  
  
"Pronto," the girl said in her accent. "Clarice?"  
  
Lecter's heart skipped a beat.  
  
"You got my letter? Great!" the girl continued. "Yeah, the flight will arrive in DC around 9:30, 10:00 PM next Tuesday, depending on how good it goes."  
  
Silence.  
  
"Huh? Yeah, right, what would I want a man for? What about you? Are you interested in anyone?"  
  
Lecter listened, not quite sure what he was listening for. If this really was his Clarice the girl was talking to, he definitely wanted to know if she was available or not.  
  
The girl laughed. "Yeah, I know how you feel. Men are worthless, unless of course you find the right one."  
  
Silence again.  
  
"Sure thing Clarice," the girl said. "I'll see you on Tuesday.yeah, I love you too." The girl hung the phone up. Not even two seconds after the phone conversation was completed, her phone rang again. "Pronto." the girl looked around the center, and spotted the young man she had encountered earlier. He too, was talking on a cell phone. "Leave me the hell alone Gianni!" she yelled, and pushed the "end" button on the phone. As she walked through the door of the student center, Lecter got up from his table and followed the young girl, determined to find out more about her. 


	4. Chapter Four: Cara's Apartment

Lecter had carefully followed the girl to her apartment, making sure he was not seen by her. He watched her walk into the door, waited a few minutes, then walked over. He quickly scanned the mailboxes, looking for a name. What name, he didn't know. Then he saw it; Starling, C.A. #401. 'C.A.?' he thought. 'I wonder what her name is.' He looked across the street at a small café. 'Well, nothing wrong with a cappuccino now is there?' He sauntered over and took a seat at a table directly across from the door of the apartment complex and watched. After 20 minutes, Young Starling (as he thought of her) walked out the door and down the street. Now was his chance. Lecter got up from the table, left money for his bill, then walked over to the complex. Once inside, he climbed up the stairs to the fourth floor and quickly found #401. Taking a skeleton key from his pocket, he carefully and quietly opened the door and peeked inside.  
  
Entering the apartment, Lecter looked around for anything that might say the young girl's name on it. He found a high school diploma hanging on the wall and read: Cara Adonna Starling; Class of 2002; North Lauderdale, Florida. "Florida?" he asked aloud. "My dear, if you are from Florida, where on earth did you get that atrocious accent?" As he walked around the living room, Lecter noticed several things reminding him of his own Clarice; family pictures, books, Bourbon, and.a gun? What the hell did she have a gun for? He picked it up. A Colt .45. 'Nice choice' he thought. Lecter saw a photo album lying on the floor next to the couch and decided to take a gander at it. The first picture he saw was a family photo, obviously taken several years ago. Seated at a picnic table in what looked to be Central Park in New York were several men and women including Clarice, and one child, which must have been Cara. Cara was seated on Clarice's lap, twirling her aunt's dark hair in her fingers. Next to Clarice and Cara was a man whom Lecter thought to be Cara's father, Clarice's brother. He flipped through more pictures; baby pictures of Cara, more family photos, photos of friends. Two pictures in particular caught his eye. One was of Clarice and the late John Brigham, looking as if they were dating. The other was of someone he could only assume was Clarice's father. Lecter made a mental note of this, and closed the book.  
  
As he was setting the album down, Lecter heard a sound much like a growl come from behind him. He looked to his right to find himself face-to-face with a full grown male Rottweiler. "Nice puppy," he said. "Good dog." Lecter got up and started slowly toward the door.  
  
When he was out the door, Lecter heard the phone ring from Cara's apartment, then heard the answering machine pick up. A young man's voice with a heavy Italian accent started talking: "Cara, I'm willing to forget what you did to me earlier today. If you don't come to terms with me within the hour, you'll be very sorry you ever crossed me. If you know what's good for you, you'll call me back. Ciao."  
  
'Hmm.' Lecter thought. 'He seems like a very rude boy.' 


	5. Chapter Five: The Fight

After being rescued by the Good Doctor by the "Dread Pirate Writer's Block", Agent Starling proceeds with the storyline. Sorry 'bout the wait folks! Now on with the show! As you wish. Oh yeah.heh.I forgot about this with the last few chapters but.I own none of these characters.'cept for Cara cuz she's my own idea.if only I owned the rest of them though.^_^  
  
Chapter Five: The Streets of Florence  
  
Cara Starling sat at a small café on the opposite side of town as to where she lived. Seated across the table from her was a young man, different than the one at the student center. She was laughing and obviously enjoying her time. But unfortunately the joy would not be for long.  
  
As Lecter sat back at his own table, reading an imported newspaper, the young man known as Gianni walked up to Cara's table.  
  
"Cara please," he said in his thick accent and terrible English, "please come back to me."  
  
"Why the hell should I?" Cara asked. "You slept with my best friend.and you weren't even drunk! I'll never forgive you. And I'd really appreciate it if you'd let me live my life in peace.WITHOUT YOU!"  
  
Gianni took a step towards Cara, his hand positioned as if to hit her. The other young man stood up quickly and pushed him out of the way. Almost instantly, a fight pursued. Both Cara and Lecter watched as Gianni whipped out a knife and proceeded to jam it into the young man's side, spun around swiftly, and came after Cara. 


	6. Chapter Six: Whoo! Florence again!

Whoo! Thanks so much for the reviews! As usual.don't own the characters.if I did.heh heh.that would be great.  
  
On with the story! Whoo!  
  
Gianni lunged at Cara, Lecter lunged at Gianni. Before anyone knew what had happened, both Lecter and Gianni were on the ground, Cara standing over them.  
  
"Honestly Gianni," Cara said. "You should know not to mess with me. I didn't take Taekwondo and Self-defense classes for nothing."  
  
Dr. Lecter chuckled. "And as for you," Cara said to him. "Who the hell are you, and why have you been following me around today? Its getting creepy."  
  
"Well my dear," he started. "You remind me of someone I know. You look very much like her; you act very much like her."  
  
"Mkay," Cara started. "Who is sh-"  
  
Cara was cut short by a blow to the side from Gianni. Caught off guard and on the ground, Cara panicked, not knowing what to do. She felt something cold and sharp against her neck, then all went black... 


	7. Chapter Seven: Clarice

Dun dun dun.sorry 'bout the cliff-hanger folks. I just had to...you know how that goes. As usual...[insert disclaimer here].  
  
After Clarice got off the phone with Cara, she went up to her bedroom and sat down at her desk. She pulled open a drawer and took out a picture...the one picture she had of her family. It was taken fourteen years ago in Central Park. Back when her brother was still alive; back when Cara still lived in the United States; back when Clarice was happy. Staring at the picture, tears welled up in Starling's eyes. She choked back the urge to cry and placed the picture back in the drawer. She then took out another picture. This was a picture of Dr. Lecter that she took from the basement shortly before she was booted off the Bureau. This picture had the power to make her tears stream down her face in a matter of seconds.  
  
"Where are you Hannibal?" she asked out loud. "Why haven't you contacted me yet? Do you even think of me like I think of you?"  
  
Clarice stood up, placed the picture on the desk, and threw herself into bed, sobbing. "I miss you," she murmured. "Please come back..." 


	8. Chapter Eight: Savior

Damn...its sure been a while hasn't it? I'm sooooo sorry about the wait. I've been totally swamped with school and stuff. But now I think I'm back on track, so hopefully you can expect updates sooner. [insert usual disclaimer here]  
  
Cara woke up in her own apartment, on her own bed. Her Rottweiler, Titus, lay on the bed next to her in a protective position. She heard movement out in her living room and got up slowly to investigate. Titus got up and followed her. She stepped into the room and looked at the figure sitting on the couch, looking through her books.  
  
"Excuse me," she said. "Who are you?"  
  
The man looked up at her. "I'm a friend of Clarice's," he stated. He looked back to the photo album he was looking at. "Please, sit," he said.  
  
Cara did as he said and sat down next to him, Titus at a very close distance. The strange man was making Titus uneasy, and he lay his head on Cara's knee. The man pointed to the picture of the large crowd at the picnic table. "Who is everyone in this picture?" he asked. Cara pointed to each figure. "This is me," she said, pointing to the child. "I'm sitting on my aunt Clarice's lap, and next to her is my dad, James. He died a while ago. The other woman is my other aunt Maggie, and the other two are my uncles Rick and Jake. That was the last time our whole family got together before my dad died. I haven't seen most of my relatives since the funeral, and that was ten years ago. Hey how do you know Clarice anyhow?"  
  
"I met her when she was training at the academy," said the man. It was the truth, just not the whole truth. This young girl would find out sooner or later. "Tell me, where are you from? You're not from here, I can tell."  
  
"Originally I'm from West Virginia. My whole family is. Except my mom. She's from here. After my dad died, my mom moved back here, but I wanted to finish school so I lived with my aunt Maggie in Florida until I graduated. Then I came here to be with my mom," she explained.  
  
"Ah," said the man. "That's what it is. It's the same as Clarice's accent. You remind me so much of her."  
  
Cara smiled. "I don't mean to be rude, but I'd like to have some time alone, and considering the fact that I really don't know you, I think it'd be best for you to leave."  
  
He smiled at her, "its not a problem at all. I'm glad you're feeling alright. I was a bit worried when you passed out like that."  
  
"Thank you for helping me," she said.  
  
The man raised up off the couch and got his hat. As he turned the doorknob to walk out, Cara spoke. "Um...how exactly did you know I lived here?" she asked.  
  
"All good things to those who wait," he said, and walked out the door, closing it softly behind him. 


End file.
